George j



(No Model.)

G. J. H. GOEHLBR.

SAFE.

No. 524,941. Patented Aug.21,1894.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEiCE.

GEORGE J. H. GOEHLER, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THE CARY SAFECOMPANY, LIMITED, OF SAME PLACE. l

' SAFE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 524,941, dated August21, 1894.

Application tiled February 27, 1894. Serial No. 501i657- (N0 mndel-t Toa/ZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE J. H. GOEHLER, a citinen of the UnitedStates, residing at Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of NewYork, have invented new and useful Improveinentsin Burglar-Proof Safes,of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to burglar-proof safes and has for its object toproduce a strong safebody or shell that shall be free from seams,lioints or other weak points of attack which permit the insertion ofwedges or other burglar tools or the introduction of gunpowder or otherexplosives.

My invention consists, first, in a burglarproof safe-body the walls ofwhich are welded together at adjacent edges into a solid shell with'no.joints oi' seams and having a door opening 1n one of its walls; and,second, in the method of making a seamless burglarproof safe-body whichconsists in forming tromhsuitable metal an open box shaped shell,welding together the walls of said shell at adjacent edges, cutting adoor opening in one of the walls of the shell and welding a plate to theopen side of the box shaped shell to complete the safe-body.

In the annexed drawings illustrating the invention-Figure l is aperspective of an oblong plate of metal, or usual safe material, havingits ends slightly turned up. Figs. 2, 'Sand 4represent the successivesteps of forming from said oblong plate an endless and substantiallyrectangular metal band that is to constitute the main portion of thesafe body, or its top, bottom and two sides.` Fig. 5 is a perspective ofthe parts of the shell or safe` body before the front and backplates arewelded in place. Fig. 6 is a perspective of the parts of the shell orsafe-body after the front plate has been Welded in position and a dooropening cut therein and before the back plate is welded into the openside of the box shaped shell. Fig. 7 is a perspective of a burglar-proof safe-body constructed according to my invention, but beforethe door is attached and before any inside plates or work is placed inthe safe. Fig. 8 is a detail sectional plan of one corner of a welded,safe-body showing inside metal plates placed in the shell or endlessband to hold the front and back plates in position while being weldedand asbestos or similar non-conducting material placed be- `joints,seams or shoulders.

tween the said inside plates and the shell and its front and back toprevent the shell and front or back from being welded t0 the insideplates.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral l represents the sides of myseamless rectangular safe-body; 2 the top; 3 the bottom; 4t the backplate and 5 the front plate in which the door opening/6 is formed. Allthe walls of the safe-body are solid or without joints.

In constructing the seamless rectangular safe-body, the top, bottom andsides, which constitute the main portion of the body, are first formedby bending a sheet or plate of metal, or usual safe material, of theproper length and width and desired thickness into the form of a foursided band. For this purpose I take an oblong sheet or plate of safematerial, shown in Fig. l, and preferably turn up each end a little, asshown. I then bend this plate transversely and successively at about thepoints marked 7 beginning first at a point, say, about one-fourth thedistance from one end of the blank. This first bending of the metalblank brings it into the form shown in Fig. 2, the bend being atsubstantially a right angle to the main portion of the metal. The blankis then bent again and in a similar manner at another predeterminedpoint as shown in Fig. 3 and finally, by another bend, itis brought intothe form shown in Fig. 4 which permits the two ends of the blank to cometogether. At this point the two ends of the oblong blank are securelyand closely united by welding, thus producing an endless rectangularband or body free from This endless band is to form the top, two sidesand the bottom of the safe-body. The slightly turned up ends of theoblong blank, as shown in Fig. l, are not essential but assist inelect-.

ing a firm union of the ends of the bent blank by welding. It is obviousthat the bends or corners of the endless band may be somewhat roundedand yet give substantially the same results as an exact rectangular bodyor shell.

Into one end of the endless band, produced as above described, is thensecurely welded a solid metal plate that is to constitute the front 5 ofthe safe-body. This weldinginto place of the front plate 5 isreadilyaccomplished for the reason that the other side of thesubstantially rectangular band is open and affords ready access forintroducing the necessary tools and appliances. After the front plate 5has been welded all around the edge of the endless band, thus producingan open box shaped shell, an opening 6 will be cut in or through one ofthe walls of said shell. The opening 6 is, preferably, formed in thesolidly welded front plate 5 and can be easily cut the required shape byplacing the open box shaped shell in a lathe and employing a propercutting tool. The opening 6 may be circular or of any other desiredform. It serves, rst for giving access to the interior of the shell inwelding the back plate 4 into place and thereat'ter it constitutes thedoor opening of the safe. As I prefer to employ a circular screwdoor forclosing the safe the opening 6 will have a corresponding circular form.

After the front plate 5 has been welded into place and the opening 6properly formed, either in a lathe or otherwise, the solid back plate/.twill be welded into place, in the rear edge of the endless band, in thesame manner as the front plate. During this operation the opening 6permits the introduction of necessary tools and appliances into thesafe-body.

Before putting the front and back plates in position for welding it ispreferable to place in the open ended shell or band inside plates orcorner pieces 8 that will be adapted to serve as supports or bearingsfor the front and back plates to hold them in shape during the weldingoperation. A strip of asbestos or other suitable non-conducting material9, Fig. 8, is placed between the shell itself and these inside plates 8and also between said inside plates and the front and back of the shellso that in the welding of the front or back to the shell band theseparts will not be -welded to the inside plates or corner pieces. lThefront and back plates having been securely welded to the band shapedmain portion of the safe-body, the usual tilling or layers of liningplates are built up in the safe-body by introducing the same through thedoor opening. After this the door is applied to the said opening. Thougha circular door opening is shown in the drawings it will be understoodthat the safe may be provided with a square door opening, if desired.

By cutting the door opening into the front plate after welding thelatter to the endless band forming the main portion of the body the saidopening is not distorted or rendered untrue, which would be likely tooccur if the opening were out into the front plate before welding it tothe band, because in the operation of welding the metal is liable to bemore or less stretched or drawn out of shape. This would require thedoor opening to be trued in the lathe after welding the front plateinplace and would correspondingly increase the cost of making thesafe-body.

It is obvious that instead of cutting the door opening in the frontplate it could be cut in one of the sides of the endless band beforedescribed, but it is preferably formed in the front plate because inthat case the opening is cut after the welding operation so that theform of the opening is preserved, while if it were cut in one of thesides of the band it would have to be cut before welding the final orback plate to the band, so that the opening would be liable to be drawnout of shape in welding such plate to the band.

Bywelding the entire safe-body into a solid shell, in the mannerdescribed, it presents a smooth, unbroken surface having no Joints,seams or shoulders into or against which a prying or wedging tool of anykind can be placed or into which explosives can be introduced, thusrendering the safe-body exceedingly strong and extremely difficult ofsuc-- cessful attack by burglars..

What I claim as my invention is- 1. A burglar-proof safe-body having itswalls welded together into a solid seamless shell and provided with asolid front wall welded in place and having a door opening,substantially as shown and described.

2. The herein described method of making a seamless 4burglar proof safebody, which consists -in welding together the walls of an open boxshaped shell, forming a door openingin one of the walls of said shell,and then welding a plate to the open side of the box shaped shell tocomplete the seamless safebody, substantially as described.

3. The herein described method of making IOM a seamless burglar-proofsafe-body, which consistsin bending asheet or plate of metal of theproper length,width and thickness into a four sided band, then unitingthe ends of said band by welding, then welding a solid front plate toone edge of the said four sided endless band, then cutting adoor openingin said solid front plate, and then welding a solid back plate to theopposite edge of the four sided band to complete the seamless safebody,substantially as specified.

4. The herein described method of making a seamless burglar-proofsafe-body, which consists in forming a sheet or plate of safe materialinto an endless band, uniting the ends of said band by welding, placinginside.

plates or corner pieces in said band to serve as bearings for solidfront and back plates and hold them in shape while welding, interposinganon-conducting material between said inside plates and the shell, thenwelding I

